


Dog Days of Summer

by snakeowls



Series: One Man and His Dog [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: rs_small_gifts, Dad!Remus, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Everybody Lives, M/M, Playtime with Padfoot, Raising Teddy, Remus Lupin Lives, Sirius Black Lives, Summer, Teacher Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 18:38:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12894312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakeowls/pseuds/snakeowls
Summary: R/S Small Gifts 2017.It’s the first day of summer and it’s full of food, fun and frolics, and that’s just the way that Remus, Sirius and Teddy like it.





	Dog Days of Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GoodFrith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodFrith/gifts).



> A billion thanks to Bea for her help, advice and beta work. Hope you like it GoodFrith! Merry Small Giftsmas. To celebrate, here’s a fic set in summer.
> 
> The three wishes were:  
> 1\. Sirius has dog days sometimes, literally.  
> 2\. Dad!Remus ft Teddy  
> 3\. Sirius thinks Remus might be the most handsome creature ever (think long careful fingers, fine bones, making mundane actions look Good)

It was the first day of the summer holidays and Remus woke up feeling hot and sticky and uncomfortable under the covers. But he wouldn’t have traded his lie in for the world, not even for a cool breeze.

He could hear Sirius and Teddy rumbling about downstairs, the back door banging shut then the sound of dog barks and excited squeals coming up from the garden through the open bedroom window. Remus hoped that Sirius had remembered to put the silencing charms back up around the garden lest Remus need to placate the Muggle neighbours again with ‘I’m sorry we woke you/kept you up/thought it was a good idea to set off fireworks at three in the morning’ cakes.

Remus stretched, kicked the covers off completely and smiled to himself, remembering last weekend and the furious look on Mrs Murphy’s face slowly turning to only slightly miffed when she opened her front door to find Teddy holding a lemon drizzle cake aloft, Remus standing behind him trying his best to look apologetic and Padfoot sat next to him, tail thumping on the ground.

“Hi Mrs Murphy, my Daidí says that I’ve to tell you that I’m very sorry for being so loud and Padfoot’s sorry too, and we’ll try not to do it again, but we found a gnome you see-”

He was quickly cut off by Remus, chuckling. “Kids and their imaginations!” 

Remus glanced at the bedside clock and noticed that it was nine o’clock already and soon it would be time to get up and start on breakfast. He flipped his pillow over to the cool side and stretched out across the bed - perhaps just a few more minutes.

~*~

Padfoot caught the scent of bacon in the air and his ears pricked up. “Remus!” he barked, and bounded towards the kitchen, leaping over the patio furniture and skidded through the door, his claws scraping on the tiles as he scrabbled to come to a stop. 

“Morning Pads,” Remus laughed, turning one of the sizzling rashers over in the pan. “Are you more excited about seeing me or the bacon?” 

Padfoot glanced up towards the bacon, licked his lips and quickly transformed into Sirius. “Well, bacon is pretty special...” He gave Remus a little peck on the lips as Remus batted him away.

Teddy was not too far behind and squealed, “Daidí!” as he ran into the kitchen, barrelled over towards Remus and hugged his legs. “Me and Padfoot were up behind the playhouse being mandrakes! He dug me a big hole and everything!”

“Well, that sounds brilliant!” Remus ruffled Teddy’s hair - black like his Dad’s today - and looked over at Sirius pointedly.

“Don’t worry darling, I remembered the silencing charms.”

Remus picked Teddy up. “Ooft, you’re getting heavier every day,” he said. “If you get any bigger I’ll start dropping…” Teddy squealed as Remus pretended to drop him onto the kitchen floor, catching him at the last moment.

“Again, again,” he shouted, jumping up and down once Remus set him back on the floor.

“The bacon has almost reached optimum crispiness,” Remus told him. “Go take your Dad upstairs to get cleaned up. You’re both filthy.”

“I’m not that mucky!” said Teddy

“You don’t want your bacon butties to taste like mud, do you?” asked Sirius. Teddy made a yuck face and Sirius laughed. “Thought not!” 

He flicked a cleaning charm at Teddy who looked down at his spotless fingers and giggled, “That was tickly, Dad!”

Remus tutted, “Those charms don’t work as well as good old soap and water.”

Sirius shrugged and pulled Teddy’s chair out from the table for him to clamber up then sat next to him and watched Remus as he busied around the kitchen, buttering the bread then summoning the plates out of the cupboard while simultaneously flicking the kettle on to boil. 

This was one of Sirius’s favourite parts of their morning routine, just watching Remus go about his business, always so unhurried and elegant, gliding around the kitchen in practiced moves, almost like a ballroom dancer. In truth, Remus was a terrible dancer, all arms and legs. Sirius had hated his strict dance lessons as a child, so found Remus’s uncoordination and inability to do the right steps endearing and made Sirius love him even more.

Remus brought Sirius out of his trance. “Right lads, breks is almost done - red or brown sauce?”

Sirius and Teddy chorused, “Red!”

Sirius scoffed, “Of course red, brown sauce is just unnatural.”

Remus stuck his tongue out at him, then squeezed brown sauce all over his own bacon rashers before putting red on theirs and floated their plates over to the table. “So, what shall we do today then?”

“As little as possible?” asked Sirius.

“No, Dad, play!” said Teddy, bouncing in his seat. “You said we’d fill up the pool after breakfast and I just had to wait until Daidí got up and not wake him, and I waited!”

Remus chuckled, “Well, both of those sound ideal, I could do with a day relaxing by the pool.”

“The pool is for splashing, Daidí, not relaxing,” said Teddy in a very serious tone of voice, picking up his sandwich and taking a big bite, sauce squirting out the other side.

“Yeah Daidí,” Sirius smirked. “Splashing only. Thank goodness he has us around to keep him right, eh Ted?”

Teddy nodded, mouth full, and he wolfed down the rest of his sandwich, ravenous after the morning’s festivities. He certainly had Remus’s appetite, that was for sure. When he was done he shouted, “Finished!” and raised his sauce-covered hands up for Remus and Sirius to see.

“Good job Pup, go get changed out of your jammies and we’ll head out the back.” said Sirius.

Teddy slid off his chair and wiped his hands on his top. “Can you teach me to go on the broom?” 

“Only if you hurry.”

“Yes!” Teddy ran out of the room and thundered up the stairs. Sirius wondered what wonderful clothing combination Teddy would choose for himself today. Yesterday’s choice of christmas print leggings and a Bob the Builder vest top had certainly been a look.

“I hoped that he’d show interest in his training broom one day.” said Remus, taking a sip of tea.

“It’ll be Ginny, he’s been obsessed since we took him to that Harpies match.” Sirius looked at Remus, pointing to a spot next to his mouth. “You’ve got brown sauce on your face.” Sirius leaned forward, licked it off and grimaced. “Yuck.”

“Dog.”

Sirius gave Remus a cheeky wink. “Woof.”

~*~

Teddy was a fast learner and was whizzing around the garden in no time. Of course, it helped that his parents were two of the best teachers in their school, if not Ireland. Even if one of them was a dog.

Remus watched Teddy closely while he hovered about a metre above the ground, Teddy’s tongue stuck out in concentration. “Ok that’s good, keep it straight now,” said Remus. “Excellent, Ted, brilliant!”

“I’m doing it Daidí, I’m flying!” shouted Teddy.

“Yes you are, that’s wonderful! Right, back down now. Slowly, that’s it.”

Teddy landed on both feet with a thud and was almost immediately knocked over by a proud and elated Padfoot who tackled him to the ground and covered his face in slobbery kisses. The broom was soon forgotten as Teddy and Padfoot tumbled around the garden, Padfoot zooming from one end to the other and darting in circles around Teddy while he giggled and squealed with glee.

Eventually Padfoot had to stop, panting heavily with his long tongue lolling out of his mouth as he flopped on the ground under the shade of the trees.

“No, don’t stop Paddy, more!” Teddy squawked.

Remus looked over towards Padfoot lying on his side panting furiously, and said, “I think that Padfoot is a bit puffed out, Super Ted. Old dog needs his rest.”

Padfoot lifted his head to grumble, but found that he quite agreed and lay back down.

Remus caught sight of this and smiled. “Here Ted, come and help me fill up the pool.” He handed Teddy the hose, and Teddy somehow managed to resist the temptation to soak his dads and pointed the water at the pool instead. Remus was both relieved and proud at this little show of self-restraint.

After the pool was full to the brim, Padfoot managed to rouse himself from his spot under the trees and he and Teddy got down to some good old fashioned splashing; jumping in and out of the pool while Remus watched from his deck chair, throwing out shouts of encouragement after a particularly impressive wave. Padfoot got hold of the hose and chased Teddy around with it for a bit, followed by another bout of splashing.

Padfoot lumbered over towards to Remus and shook off right next to him, shocking him away from his book with a, “Hey!” while Teddy broke into hysterics.

“He got you Daidí!”

Padfoot transformed back into Sirius and slumped on his deck chair next to Remus. “Tig, you’re it. Your turn to do the Teddy-wrangling.” He squinted up at the sun with an “Ugh,” and hauled himself back up to drag his chair into the shade before flopping down again dramatically. “Dad needs a nap.”

"Aww, poor old Dad," Remus ruffled Sirius's hair and handed him his sunglasses. "Right Teddy, look out, the big bad wolf is coming to splash!" He ran towards the pool and jumped in, much to Teddy's delight.

Remus charmed the pool deeper, and together he and Teddy practiced holding their breaths underwater and became mermen for a while. They swam around, regularly bobbing up for big gasps of air, and looked hard for grindylows, Teddy’s latest fascination after learning about them last week.

When their fingers and toes were suitably pruney and Teddy was finally starting to tire they crawled out of the pool and set to drying themselves off by lying on the grass in the sun. Teddy flapped around on the ground like a merman out of water for a bit, but when Remus mentioned lunch and some chocolate ice cream he was soon back on two feet again as he bounced up raced towards the kitchen.

~*~

Sirius could hear Teddy snoring lightly on his arm where he was lying against him, finally immobile. Sirius glanced down at him in wonder, and noticed that with his black hair spilling over his arm, Teddy looked a little like him at that age. As Teddy is normally the double of Remus, Sirius often wonders when he sees little flashes of himself in Teddy if it's something that he does on purpose, or if it’s the Black bit of his genes peeking through.

Remus was sprawled out on his deck chair under the bright afternoon sun, long lanky limbs stretched out and his sunhat askew. Sirius knew that if he was close enough, he’d hear him lightly snoring too. His book had fallen closed and Sirius knew that soon he’d wake and pick it up, open it at a random page and continue on like, _no, I wasn’t asleep, what are you talking about?_

Sirius loved to watch Remus like this, so comfortable and serene, basking in the sun and glowing. Perhaps they should have moved to the Mediterranean or Australia or somewhere sunnier than cold and rainy Ireland so that Remus would have been able to enjoy guaranteed sunshine.

Sirius wasn't a fan of the sun and he thought that they had escaped the oppressive heat of summers when they left London all those years ago, but over the past fortnight it had been so warm the humidity had hung like a damp cloak around them, smothering them all. _Better this, than the polluted fog, though,_ Sirius admitted to himself. He thought back to their old top-floor flat in London, windows open wide and exhaust fumes rolling up and in while they lay half-clothed and draped over the furniture, too sweaty and lethargic to move.

He would happily live somewhere hot if Remus wanted to, though. Well maybe not happily, but he'd do it.

Remus stirred, and as predicted picked up his book and glanced over at Sirius to see if he had been caught snoozing. He found Sirius looking back at him. "It's creepy when you stare, you know," he teased.

"I like looking at you." Sirius spoke quietly, so as not to wake Teddy.

"You don't even blink sometimes, it's unsettling."

“I can't help it if my eyes can't stay away from your handsome face.”

Remus laughed and flicked through his book, trying to find the right page. "You'd have thought they'd be fed up with my handsome face by now."

"Nah, not yet." Sirius looked down at Teddy who had stirred slightly, but he only sighed and kept on sleeping. 

"You want something to drink?" asked Remus, and Sirius nodded.

Remus hauled himself out of the deck chair, stretching his back with a satisfying pop. “Sundowner?” he asked, with a raised eyebrow and crooked grin.

Sirius feigned surprise, “It’s not even three o’clock yet.”

“Well, it’s sundown somewhere in the world.”

“Mr Lupin, who knew you were such a bad influence.”

~*~

It was Remus’s turn to get Teddy ready for bed tonight, so while he read Teddy his favourite story (which, this week, was _George’s Marvellous Medicine_. Next week - who knows?) Sirius tidied up the kitchen and set the cleaning spells on the dishes in the sink then headed out to the garden to stoke up the fire pit. 

He brought the record player out to the garden along with a few of Remus’s favourite records. As Remus had done bedtime it was his turn to choose the music tonight, although really every night ended up being Remus’s choice when he inevitably complained about Sirius’s choice, and made unsubtle suggestions about what they should listen to instead. 

Sirius mixed up some cocktails and smiled as he poured a generous measure of rum into the jug, remembering the first time that they had tried this particular drink on holiday in Majorca, and the incredibly drunken night that had followed.

When Remus wandered out to the garden he found Sirius sitting on the bench in front of the fire pit mesmerised by the dancing flames and sat down next to him. “That’s Teddy asleep now. I think we did a good job of tiring him out today.”

“I should hope so, I’m pretty knackered myself.” Sirius leaned into Remus and gave him a nudge. “I made us drinks. Rum punch, remember?”

Remus smiled and picked up his glass and took a sip. “Mmm, tropical.”

“It’s the umbrella that makes it.” Sirius held his glass up to Remus. “Cheers, love, here’s to many more days like today.”

“Perks of being a teacher, I get to spend summers with my two favourite boys.”

“And your boys wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Remus put some music on and turned the volume down low, so as not to wake Teddy. They spent the rest of the evening quietly talking and laughing and reminiscing and planning the summer ahead.

Once the sun had set and a welcome chill started to set in Remus and Sirius huddled closer together by the fire pit, cosy under a blanket. Sirius laid his head on Remus’s shoulder as Remus pulled the blanket around them a little tighter. 

Remus kissed the top of Sirius’s head and whispered, “Thank you for coming back to me. I couldn’t imagine a life without you.”

Sirius smiled softly. “I’m here, you don’t have to. Did you enjoy the first day of your holidays?”

“Definitely.”

“Bedtime?”

“Absolutely.”

Sirius stood up, grabbed his wand and doused the fire. 

Remus held out his hands for Sirius to pull him up from the bench, and staggered upright, a little unsteady from drink and tiredness and the heady buzz of their perfect day. He patted Sirius’s bum and gave it a little squeeze. “To bed with you, an old man needs his rest.” 

“Yeah, I’ll show you what this old man can do in bed.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [Remus/Sirius Small Gifts Dreamwidth](https://small-gifts.dreamwidth.org/233621.html).


End file.
